Articles, which are to be worn on the lower torso of a wearer such as pants or diapers, are constantly sought to be improved with regard to their fit on the wearer. Since several years, the focus has been put on doing so by improving the elasticity of the materials employed therein. In a recent approach, leg hoops have been introduced so as to provide sustained body conforming fit, such as described in WO06/102974A1 (C4S). Whilst these designs as well as their manufacturing (such as described in WO08/141756 or WO2010/057543) is quite simple, there is a need for even simpler designs.
In addition to simple and yet well fitting designs, the soiling of the wearer's skin by inadequate handling of faecal exudates in articles such as disposable absorbent articles and the like has long been identified as an issue, but although there has been proposed a plethora of solutions, there is at present no broad scale and functioning execution in the market.
In addition to the above mentioned patent publications, a further exemplary approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,775 (P&G) showing a topsheet for use in a disposable absorbent article which is divided into three trisections with different elastic properties. The topsheet may further have an aperture for communicating faecal material through the topsheet into a void space in the disposable absorbent article.
EP1279388A1 (P&G) describes absorbent articles, wherein cuffs are designed to provide a barrier function such as for faeces which is less sensitive to sagging upon loading.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,541 (K-C) describes an absorbent article comprising a topsheet, a backsheet, an absorbent core, and an elevating device for spacing the topsheet above the absorbent core to form a pocket-30 like shape. The topsheet can have an opening and the absorbent can have a hole therein, both of which receive and isolate waste material from the wearer.
WO 09/119376A1 (Uni-Charm) discloses a diaper with a spacer and a separator aiming at reducing the contamination of the skin in the external genital and perineal area by excretion. WO08/138018A1 (DSG) discloses an article having an absorbent core, a liquid pervious top sheet 35 and a liquid impervious backsheet. A pair of flexible elastic leg wraps extends outwardly from and alongside edges of the core, and includes a set of spaced-apart elastic strands. The leg wraps and the core form a reservoir for capturing bodily exudates. A set of fluid dams is defined by the strands during use of the article with each fluid dam capturing volume of liquid waste from passing between the leg wraps and a wearer.
The general principle of all these approaches is to provide a separation material for separating the faeces, once deposited, as much as possible from the skin of the wearer and/or from the genitals. To this end, the separation material is intended to be positioned in proximity of the anus of the wearer, be it in the form of the secondary topsheet, or of a separation barrier and so forth. However, it is believed that the key reason for the lack of market introduction of functioning products is that this registry between the faeces separation means and the anus is too often not maintained during use.
As long as this registry is intact, the separation may function, if there is a mis-alignment this might actually induce much more severe skin soiling, if not leakage incident, than without such a separation means. It is also believed that articles with such conventional faeces separation features may be more difficult to apply.
A first solution to this problem is described in co-pending patent application in the name of the present applicant Concepts for Success (Appl.-number GB-1004733, unpublished). Therein, the registry of anus and separation means, such as in the form of a secondary topsheet is achieved by affixing the product by means of leg hoops around the legs of the wearer.
However, there is still a need for a solution, which is not relying on the additional features of leg hoops, but thus provides faeces separation and ease of application by very simple means.